GORDON JOHNSON: Stepping aside for a spell

All good things must end, including the writing of this column -- at least on a weekly basis.

It’s been a great ride, a long ride, but the simple fact is, I’m tired. I’m stepping aside to allow younger, fresher writers to showcase their talents. But I will pitch in with a thought every now and then.

I think I wrote my first column in 1977 for Nockma (Listen), a Native newspaper published by Southern California Tribal Chairman’s Association in North San Diego County.

It was my first newspaper job and I quickly found my niche -- interviewing tribal elders and writing long double-truck profiles of them. I loved doing it, and knew I had found my calling.

I go far enough back to say I started newspapering before computers entered the business. It was a different era. One, quite frankly, that I miss.

In 1978, I was one of 15 accepted to the Summer Program for Minority Journalists at University of California-Berkeley. I can’t say enough about what a great program that was. I owe much of my career to what I learned from the folks there. For three months I ate and slept journalism, working with some of America’s top journalists.

The aim of the program was to diversify the voices of journalism, to allow more minorities to be heard in the country’s newspapers.

Consequently, it has been my aim to add a Native voice to local newspapers.

Although I did work at Associated Press in Los Angeles for a time, I tried to stay close to home where I thought I could do the most good.

Starting in 1980, I worked for the Fallbrook Enterprise. Then, for more than 10 years, I was editor then reporter/columnist for The Californian in Temecula. For about another decade, I was a feature writer/columnist for the Press-Enterprise.

I’ve tried in a quiet way, to blend Indian stories into the news. By breaking through stereotypes, I hoped to bridge the gap between Indian and mainstream cultures. By presenting Indians as human beings, I tried to minimize fear and misunderstanding between peoples.

When I started, the were dang few Natives working in newspapers. Back then, there was either no coverage, or negative coverage of Indians. I’ve tried to be part of the change.

I’ve been writing columns, off and on, for more than 35 years. I’ve never counted them all, but in that time I’ve written thousands of news stories, feature stories and columns.

I’ve had my shortcomings, but I’ve done the best I could. I’ve tried not only to tell a good story, but to give them life.

I’ve never gone out of my way to mistreat people in print. I’ve tried to keep it real, but tried to keep it fair.

And when it seemed like the news was nothing but bleak, I’ve tried to be that point of balance where one might find a gentler perspective.

I’ve met and written about so many wonderful people in my newspaper career, seen so much, felt so much. It’s harder than I thought to step back.

And if you miss me, and I hope you do, I have two books: Rez Dogs Eat Beans and Fast Cars and Frybread, you can always find me in them.

Meanwhile, I want you to know I’m not hanging up the typewriter. A writer writes till he can’t anymore. No, I’ll be here on the Pala Indian Reservation, hitting the keys in my hay-bale shed. I’ll be focusing on fiction, and who knows, one day soon, you’ll be reading one of my novels. But I may drop in a column here and there.

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